Such a suction gripper arrangement is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,943,842 A. This suction gripper arrangement is employed to suck in a group of articles provided on a conveyor belt and lift the articles from the conveyor belt. By moving the suction gripper arrangement, the group of articles may in the following be transported and dropped again at a desired place. In the suction gripper arrangement from U.S. Pat. No. 5,943,842 A it is further already provided that the arrangement of the group of grabbed articles may be changed during the transport by the suction gripper arrangement. For this purpose, the suction gripper arms are swivably supported. Their swiveling movements may be exploited in order to decrease the distances between adjacent articles during the transport by the suction gripper arrangement. This makes it possible to insert the group of articles in smaller containers or outer packagings.
Similar suction gripper arrangements which partly also provide possibilities for changing the distances between articles of a group of grabbed articles neighboring each other come from U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,832,180, 3,934,920, 3,506,140 or 5,743,068 A.